Portsmouth pub landlady wins her case at the ECJ

From the article: "The ECJ now says national laws which prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are contrary to the freedom to provide services.

The decision could trigger a major shake-up for the Premier League and its current exclusive agreements with Sky Sports and ESPN, and pave the way to cheaper viewing of foreign broadcasts for fans of top-flight English games..."

I'll say! This ruling will see the biggest shake-up in televised sport in years. I only hope the viewer/consumer wins out in the end. TC.

The actual match footage is not copyrighted, and this is exactly as it should be, or we'd get into the stupid situation like they have in the States where you can be arrested for taking a photograph during a major league baseball game (this never happens, but it is technically illegal to reproduce even a still image of a game without permission).

Any pre-recorded footage, pre- & post-match interviews are copyrighted by Sky in the UK though, so if the foreign broadcasts being picked up are simply illegally re-broadcasted SKY productions then SKY can take action, but if a pub chooses to take a legal foreign broadcast of a Premier League match then they should now be free to do so...

It is not really good news. Not yet, anyway. All it allows her to do is watch the feed from Greece on her own TV. It does not, so far as I understand it, extend to allowing her to broadcast it to her customers.

It's all academic anyway. As sure as eggs is eggs, when the Premier League rights come up for renewal in less than 2 years, their lawyers will have this tied up so tight there will be no wriggle room whatsoever.